Man, 82, found guilty in 1992 WA killing

An 82-year-old man has been found guilty of the manslaughter of a woman in Perth 20 years ago.

Ronald Leslie Pennington stood trial in the Supreme Court in Perth for murdering 41-year-old Cariad Anderson-Slater in July 1992, but a jury on Tuesday found him not guilty on that charge.

The jury deliberated for a day before finding Pennington guilty of the alternative charge of manslaughter.

Pennington had been extradited from Tasmania to Perth to face trial.

Ms Anderson-Slater's case was reopened after her skeletal remains were found in February last year in the backyard of a house in Woodlands, in Perth's north, where Pennington lived at the time she went missing.

The court heard Ms Anderson-Slater was an alcoholic and turned up drunk at Pennington's house the day she disappeared.

Pennington's lawyer argued that Ms Anderson-Slater's husband, David Slater, was the more likely killer and had framed Pennington, but Mr Slater denied that in court.

The prosecution said the idea that Mr Slater had killed his wife and buried her in Pennington's backyard without anyone knowing was highly implausible.